Master
’s Programme in Sustainable Destination Development
Uppsala Univ ers ity logoty pe
SAMINT-HDU 21 026
Degree project 30 credits
June 2021
What
are the factors that
influence
the level of tourism
development?
Research based on 130 countries
Dorian Ardeleanu
Mas ter
’s Programme in Sustainable Destination Development
Faculty of Science and Technology
Uppsala University, Place of publication Visby, Sweden
Subject reader: Brian Danley
Examiner: Ulrika Persson-Fischier
Uppsala Univ ers ity logoty pe
What are the factors that influence the level of tourism development?
Dorian Ardeleanu
Abstract
This study is based on data regarding the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of
130 countries, and uses fixed effects estimation for the model analysis. It demonstrates that
tourism development represents a complex process that requires the implication of a multitude
of stakeholders. Macroeconomic factors, such as GDP per capita growth and economic
openness, are having a positive impact because they benefit private ownership and motivate
people to open tourism-related businesses. Overall, higher C
O
2
emissions and worse safety are
having a negative effect over tourism development. Human development factors, such as
education, are generally beneficial to the long-term tourism growth because they serve as
positive externalities. Clustering the initial dataset based on various economic, demographic
and social factors brought several new conclusions. Particularly, GDP per capita growth is not
an important tourism development factor among developed countries, whereas the dummy
variable for the year 2010 is a substantial one. Education and economic freedom are particularly
important regressors for post-socialist states. The former is also crucial among African countries
and in the Latin American region, where safety has also an essential impact over tourism
development. Finally, tourism in small states would benefit the most from lower emissions,
whereas in big states the best strategy for the policymaker would be to increase safety
measures.
Fac ulty
of Sc ienc e and Tec hnology , Upps ala Univ ers ity . Plac e of public ation Vis by , Sweden. Superv is or: